Wow. In a matter of the 3 months, one million Xbox LIVE Gold members have viewed 1.5 billion minutes of movies and TV episodes on their game console via Netflix. While I can’t confirm it at this point, my guess is that the Xbox 360 is blowing away any stats the dedicated Netflix Player by Roku is producing. Obviously, there’s power in numbers. Microsoft launched the Xbox 360 back in 2005 and has sold 28 million units worldwide as of January 5, 2009. Moreover, Microsoft prepped Xbox 360 users in advanced for such a service by providing LIVE members access to movie and trailer content through their own service early on.

One Million Xbox LIVE Members Download and Activate Netflix on Xbox360

1.5 billion minutes watched instantly by Xbox LIVE community.

Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: “MSFT”) and Netflix Inc. (Nasdaq: “NFLX”) today announced that 1 million Xbox LIVE Gold members have downloaded and activated the groundbreaking Xbox LIVE application from Netflix since the alliance launched last November. In less than three months the Xbox LIVE community has watched instantly 1.5 billion minutes of movies and TV episodes.

The Netflix application offers Xbox LIVE Gold members the ability to instantly watch movies and TV episodes from Netflix on a television via the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system. Xbox 360 is the only gaming and entertainment console that lets viewers instantly watch movies and TV episodes streamed from Netflix. Xbox LIVE Gold members who are also Netflix unlimited members can watch movies and TV episodes streamed instantly from Netflix on Xbox LIVE for no additional fee.

“Adding Netflix to our ever-growing library of 30,000 movies and TV shows makes Xbox 360 the best value in home entertainment,” said John Schappert, corporate vice president of Interactive Entertainment, LIVE, Software and Services Business at Microsoft. “With over 1 million activations and 1.5 billion minutes watched to date, Netflix is a great win for Xbox living rooms nationwide. These families are getting more entertainment from Xbox 360 than from any other device connected to their TVs.”

“Netflix continues to provide its 9.4 million subscribers unprecedented convenience, selection and value,” said Netflix Chief Marketing Officer Leslie Kilgore. “With more than 100,000 titles on DVD and 12,000 movies and TV episodes available to watch instantly, there’s no better way to enjoy movies than Netflix. As these strong results on Xbox demonstrate, Xbox LIVE is a terrific way for Netflix members to enjoy watching movies instantly on their TVs.”

In addition to Netflix in the United States, Xbox LIVE Video Marketplace offers over 17,000 pieces of standard and high-definition (HD) content to the Xbox LIVE community. From December 2008 to January 2009, Xbox LIVE Video Marketplace downloads have grown 174 percent year over year.

More than 12,000 movies and TV episodes are currently available to watch instantly from Netflix, with more on the way. A growing percentage of choices that are available to watch instantly are also available in HD.

The library of movies and TV episodes available to watch instantly from Netflix via Xbox 360 includes scores of Academy Award winners and nominees; a number of popular, currently running and classic TV episodes; more than 20 of the movies rated by the American Film Institute among the greatest ever; and access to the Starz Play service.

About Xbox 360
Xbox 360 is a premier video game and entertainment system. It is home to the best and broadest games plus more standard and high-definition movies and TV shows on demand than any other device connected to the TV. The digital center of the living room, Xbox 360 blends unbeatable content, including personal pictures and music, with a unified online social network to create a limitless entertainment experience that can be shared at home or across the globe. More information can be found online at http://www.xbox.com/xbox360.

About Xbox LIVE

Xbox LIVE connects more than 17 million members across 26 countries to each other and the entertainment they love. Home of more content from one remote than can be found from any device connected to the television, Xbox LIVE is also a unified online social network bringing friends together, no matter where they are — in the living room or across the world. More information and Xbox LIVE membership can be found online at http://www.xbox.com/en-us/live.

About Netflix, Inc.
Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) is the world’s largest online movie rental service, with more than nine million subscribers. For one low monthly price, Netflix subscribers can get DVDs delivered to their homes and can instantly watch movies and TV episodes streamed to their TVs and computers, all in unlimited amounts. Subscribers can choose from over 100,000 DVD titles and a growing library of more than 12,000 choices that can be watched instantly. There are never any due dates or late fees. DVDs are delivered free to subscribers by first class mail, with a postage-paid return envelope, from 58 distribution centers. More than 97 percent of Netflix subscribers live in areas that generally receive shipments in one business day. Netflix has partnered with leading consumer electronics companies to offer a range of devices that can instantly stream movies and TV episodes to subscribers’ TVs from Netflix. For more information, visit http://www.netflix.com/.

About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

Very impressive indeed. The XBox team would be wise to focus on getting a hardware revision out this year that not only reduces their costs but addresses the noise issues seriously. I’m pretty sure it will happen.

I’m less certain it will happen but I think Microsoft needs to find a way to make it easy to create services that can integrate and run in both XBox and Media Center environments. Ideally I’d like a service developed for XBox to simply have a provider setting that says if the service should be made available in Media Center’s Internet TV menu. Microsoft backend would take care of the rest.